The Lion King: A Flower Before The Thorns
by LionKingAlex
Summary: This small scene takes place in the morning after the Elephant Graveyard incident where Simba and Nala converse directly before the stampede in the gorge. They exchange words of trust, and even a little more, which leaves them both dumbfounded.
**This takes place on Pride Rock, directly before Scar's second scheme to eliminate Simba in** ** _The Lion King_** **. I tried my utmost to stay true to their characters and to stay within the realm of their young age: as not to make them behave too maturely.**

The day after the incident at the Elephant Graveyard, Simba was walking around Pride Rock nonchalantly, only  
to see his friend, Nala, lying down on a small rock near the den. Slowly and relaxedly, he approached the  
rock and lay on his back, leaning on the rock's base: "Well, that went better than I thought."

"Just go away.." Nala replied, clearly displeased and unwilling to talk.

"Could have been worse." Simba said, in an effort to comfort her.

"Right now, nothing's worse than being grounded for a week." Nala replied, revealing that her mother,  
Sarafina, did not take very lightly to Nala wandering off alone with Simba and participating in a scheme of  
amusement at the cost of her life.

Simba truly felt pity for Nala's situation, but his mood urged him to pull a joke on it: "Oh.. Well, you are  
pretty nasty." He then crouched, bearing his claws and teeth: "All of the Pride Lands shall beware: Nala, the  
lioness who screams hyenas into panic!" He chuckled and then went behind her rock to play with a pebble on  
the floor.

Nala was clearly annoyed, and jumped off the rock, saying: "Well, you can laugh about it! Papa's boy.."

Simba then threw the pebble towards Zazu and hid behind Nala's rock before he could see him. Zazu was caught  
off guard, but all he could see was Nala: he immediately lay the blame on her: "Nala! Have you not gone  
through enough trouble yesterday, young lady?" Little did he know that Simba was sneaking up on him, ready to  
pounce like yesterday.

"Both you and that prince owe me an - AAAHHH!" He screamed, as he was pounced on by Simba. Nala couldn't  
help but giggle, even though it was a little nervous.

"We're both really sorry about what happened last night, Mr. Banana Beak." Simba said, before letting him go.

"Well, better than nothing." Zazu said and minded his own business.

"Nala?" Simba asked her, while she was still sulking: "I'm sorry about yesterday.. Really, I am. I didn't  
listen to dad, and I almost killed us both..."

Nala gained more attention from hearing this remark: she also remembered one instance where she explicitly  
doubted Simba's courage, and then another instance where Simba nearly risked his own breath to save Nala from  
Shenzi's jaws. She felt ungrateful, and then responded: "No, I'm sorry too... Yesterday, you were a bit..."

"What?" Simba asked, glaring right into Nala, awaiting an answer.

"Brave." Nala replied, as she seated herself on the floor of Pride Rock: "If it weren't for you, that hyena  
would have... you know.."

Simba inched a little closer, laying his front paw on Nala's shoulder: "Aw, come on. What else are friends  
for but to look out for one another?"

Nala nuzzled Simba with gratitude and said: "Thanks..." She wasn't willing to let Simba go just yet, so she  
turned to asking about his lecturing: "So, how did it go?"

Simba sat down as well: "My dad told me what's right and he wasn't mad at me anymore. We were looking at the  
stars, and he said that the Great Kings of the Past are up there, watching over us."

"Wow." Nala said, intrigued.

Simba then recalled to mention something else that had been waltzing around in his mind: "Oh! I also asked  
about what Zazu told us.. you know: about you and me getting married." He looked at Nala with a bit more  
tension than before, thinking she'd immediately take to the very mentioning of the matter with scorn.

Alas, Nala replied kindly, giggling at the thought: "Alright?"

Simba then lowered his head, and turned his eyes towards Nala's: "Well, he just laughed when I said I'd have  
that tradition taken off. He also said I'd feel different about it when I'm older."

"Oh... you think he's right?" Nala asked curiously, with growing confusion and a tingle in her heart.

"I guess I do." Simba replied, with loyalty to his father's well-meaning beliefs: "Dad's never wrong. He  
does what's best for others, and knows best. And he also told me he and mom were friends before they.. fell  
in love." Simba said these last few words with a strong tension and slowness, being careful not to make Nala  
feel uncomfortable and push her even further away from him.

Nala was becoming a little shy and quiet, finding it rather hard to pick words, now that Simba brought up  
something she might have felt for him earlier: she saw no reason not to like Simba. He was handsome, he was  
very caring and supportive, and to her, that was nothing short of what a lion and lioness who take the vow of  
marriage do when they're together. After a short pause, she asked: "So... you'd be OK... if you had to, um...  
marry.. me?"

"I don't know. No girl ever asked me." Simba shrugged, just as dumbfounded. He also saw no reason to dislike  
Nala: she was more or less the only female cub who didn't bother him with a particular trait of personality.  
He was thrown off by Tama's lack of humor and was repelled by KUla's voracious behavior and laziness. Nala,  
on the other hand, was always willing to lend a helping paw, and to understand hard times, and to always  
keep her word. Also, he saw something about her eyes that showed her tenderness and sometimes, he would  
admit to himself that he found that look irresistibly alluring and warm.

"Well, that's odd. You are kind of cute.." Nala said, grinning and lowering her head to hide her eyes. Simba  
was smitten: he did not expect to hear this at all. He looked at her incessantly, with a besotted grin and  
eyes half-shut. As Nala once again turned to Simba, noticing his expression, she tried to find an excuse to  
seem that attraction was not what she felt: "What? My mom always says you're cute."

"Yeah, but you don't say it like her." Simba countered. "You said I'm cuuuute." He immitated her  
pronunciation with fair accuracy.

"Hmph, yeah right!" Nala desperately tried to deny out of fear, but Simba saw it all through.

"Come on, Nala! Admit it: you've got a crush on me!" he teased her.

"Dream on, fuzzb-" Nala went on to say, but in that moment, their noses touched together, and the two cubs  
were looking right at one another. As Nala looked at Simba, she could hear a slight tremble in his breath,  
and his whiskers quivering out of confusion. He couldn't take his eyes off hers either. For a dozen seconds,  
they just stood still, until Simba decided to step away and come to his senses a little. All in all, he just  
knew that Nala was in his senses from this point onward... Dazed, and a little besotted, Simba then took a  
deep breath and said: "Okay... this was really weird." But then again, he could not resist looking at his  
friend again: "You have pretty eyes, though."

"You think so?" Nala asked him, seeing that he was just as scared as she was to admit that he liked her.

"Simba!" suddenly, the voice of Simba's uncle, Scar, had been heard in the near distance.

"Oh.." Simba said with slight disappointment, wishing he could spend some more time around Nala. But he  
didn't want to leave the moment as it was now: he had to make a memorable goodbye, so that he can keep this  
feeling he had growing for Nala: "Well, I'd better go. I'll see you later, I promise." He rewarded Nala with  
an innocent lick to the cheek, because he wanted to hint that it isn't over yet. Nala smiled and sighed, as  
she laid back, looking at Simba follow towards Scar.

Little did either of them know that their romance would come to an abrupt end...

 **Well, there it is. I hope you liked it!**


End file.
